Input on this coach

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Without seeing the coach, driving it, looking over its maintenance records, and actually working every system I don't believe any of us are in a position to judge its value.

What is certain is that there are some coaches of that vintage that are absolute dogs. They have not only been poorly maintained, but over the years owners or mechanics have done some really poor repairs or upgrades that do not even come close to the original quality level of the conversion.

Those coaches are somebody's nightmare because when a new owner gets one he will go nuts trying to figure things out and making things work as they should. In addition he will be paying for the sins of the previous owners' lack of maintenance.

To me I would pay a premium to get a coach that has had well thought out upgrades and proper maintenance over its life. As I said previously some folks are looking for the least expensive and are willing to put the effort into restoring a coach to its former condition. I wouldn't wish that on a new owner unless the new owner had a place to work on the coach, had some mechanical skills, had extra money, and had a desire to make the effort.

It is almost effortless continuing the maintenance on a coach that has a history of good maintenance, especially if you have the records. But if the coach lacks records, and from its appearance shows it has not been well maintained I can see an owner that is going nuts because every time he turns around something else is wrong, and as someone new to the Prevost he doesn't even know what he doesn't know. There is a real value in starting out with a good reliable coach. How many of you current owners felt like a deer in the headlights when a parking brake diaphragm failed, or when you woke up in the morning with the coach leaned over, or your Webasto wouldn't fire up, or your generator wouldn't start?

The only way for any of us to really judge price is to touch and feel the coaches being evaluated and do a serious inspection. Then and only then can the price be factored into the equation. I would bet that if the coach were inspected, and it was found lacking the owner would either lose a sale, or be paying serious Lewbucks to correct problems in order to get it sold.

[jack14r]

I think that the description of this coach has been taken from a 2006 spec
sheet.It reads just like the newer Liberty product.

[tdelorme]

Jon, you are right on as far as knowing the history of any used coach. Some coaches have complete maintenance records and others have none. Having a knowledgeable person go over every system is good insurance, but with any used vehicle a new owner better be ready for a few surprises.
I was fortunate in that our coach came directly from Liberty in Fl. and Liberty had maintained the coach for a number of years. The service manager that I spoke with said the he knew the coach and that there were no problems that he was aware of. The only issue for us so far was my busted turbo tube (thanks again, Jon) and that is just one of those surprises you get with an older coach. The trick on purchasing a used Prevost is being willing to look and look and wait for as long as it takes to find the right bus. Look at Gary & Peggy. They were so patient and smart in their search and I'll bet they were tempted more than once to just buy a coach and be done with it. But their patience paid off big time and they have ended up with a really nice bus.
Still, anyone who buys a used coach with no warranty faces the possibility of laying out some big Lewbucks for an unforseen problem, and they better be ready of it.

[garyde]

Aside from buying a Coach from 'the little old lady from Pasadena' , I agree with Ted and Jon in the fact that purchasing from say Liberty, Marathon, etc. is one way to insure you are buying a 'known bus'. My Liberty was never far from the Liberty folks thru the previous two owners before me.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I think that the description of this coach has been taken from a 2006 spec
sheet.It reads just like the newer Liberty product.

I think that Jack is right on on this count.

If this bus is appealing to you, it certainly seems worthy of a visit, and inspection, but don't accept that everything in the spec. sheet is on/in the bus without absolutely verifying it!

The pictures look great, but they too may not reflect the actual condition.

Try to find out where the present owner stands in the family tree of ownership. If ne is the original owner, then that is a +.

Good luck

[aggies09]

I believe he said he was the third owner, and that he had owned the coach for six years.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jack,

I just went through the spec sheet, and as near as I could determine everything checks out. Like I said earlier, that coach is loaded, and if it has been maintained properly finding an equally well equipped coach of that vintage will be very difficult.

If you look at each listed feature and compare it to the pictures you will see no discrepancies. There are obviously things that cannot be confirmed such as the type of VCR or the KVH, or even the Crestron, but that coach looks like it has every feature of the current Elegant Lady coaches, but in 12 volts.

Some tip offs were things that are visible such as the Vitricor with the concealed microwave, the generator within a box, and not just visible when the bay door is open, the waste area plumbing which agrees with the features described, plus the little things like the vanity, the key pad entry (hard to see) and virtually every single design feature of Elegant lady coaches up until the more recent interiors.

The Crestron is listed, but I did not see any way to confirm it is there and that is the only thing I would find to be unusual for that year coach.

[jack14r]

Jon,You hit on some that I was not sure about,but I also questioned the Bose Lifestyle audio system and the auto boost from the house batteries for the generator battery.Are these options possible? Jack

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jack,

I cannot answer about the Bose. We have an Alpine surround sound with a big speaker under the sofa and numerous other speakers throughout the house and a graphic equalizer that allows for the sound system to create the sensation of being in a church or stadium or normal sound. I presume Liberty used different systems. Since all audio equipment is now considered throw away by stores like Best Buy or Circuit City there is likely to have been system changes or upgrades due to the age of the coach. I just changed out my Alpine radio / CD player because nobody would repair it.

But our generator battery is as described. It maintains its charge through the house batteries and it has an isolator in the electric compartment to prevent discharge as the house voltage goes down. It is set up as a 12V tap off the house.

[rfoster]

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the Crestron system was not available on the 12 volt coach until the very late 90's or early 2000. It may have just been the sales pitch - but 97 was supposedly some of the earliest available for 24 volt coach.

I agree with Garyde and Jack- the description reads like the current Liberty coach.

Looks great in the photos, and if it does have all those features, that is one to take a closer look at.